Fail No. 1 — I reverted to type.
If you are an adult with siblings, and the bunch of you get together for holidays or large family functions, you likely have witnessed or experienced yourself a “revert to type.” To revert to type is “to come or go back, as to a former condition, period, or subject.”

For example, if your younger brother, who yanked your ponytail constantly when you were growing up but is now actually a mature, stand-up person, totallyyanks your ponytail every time you’re both at Mom’s, he’s reverting to type, slipping into the kid brother role he had for so long. Meanwhile, you can’t believe the Typical Older Sister stuff coming out of your mouth. Reverting to type might not feel great, but at least it feels familiar.

Well, I reverted to type the other night. I got nerdy. Nervous. I tried to be funny and sort of was, sometimes, but mostly I was just clammy and didn’t know where to put my hands or how to not say lame things to people to whom I always managed to say lame things. I wasn’t hopeless in high school, but I had frequent clammy encounters. Anyway, it happened at the party and it was weird. I’ve come a long way since high school — so how come I forgot all that stuff when I tried to insert myself into conversations?

Fail No. 2 — I drank too much.
(See: reverting to type.) Not that I drank in high school — I could count on one hand the times I did. No, I mean that because I felt nervous, my cup was never empty. On top of that, I’m on a new medication and I think the combo made me pretty spacey. It’s not like I had a lampshade on my head at the end of the night, but I spent the next day feelin’ barf-o-riffic, indeed. Go high school!

Fail No. 3 — I didn’t take many pictures. And I didn’t tackle the hosts to thank them for everything before I left. Super lame.Okay, so that’s two in one. I probably wasn’t the only reveler who sort of drifted off as the party broke up, but that’s not usually my way. And though I can’t do much about the first thing, I’ve got an idea to remedy the second.

Now that done a little get realin’, it’s time to brush my teeth and go to bed. Oh wait:

Fail No. 4 — Definitely did not brush my teeth before I went to bed Saturday night.
I was so good about that in high school.